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Jobs mainly in management, marketing and administrative roles are set to be the hardest hit, the BBC r eports.

There were rumours last year that thousands of jobs could be axed as part of a £2.5 billion savings plan amid falling sales in China and a drop in demand for diesel cars, but the figure was not confirmed.

At the time, the union Unite said government policy on diesel and its "botched" handling of Brexit was weighing on the hard work by staff at Jaguar Land Rover.

The spokesman added: "Unite is not aware of any further job losses to those already announced and planned for early in the new year at Jaguar Land Rover, Unite also expects ongoing transparency regarding the difficult current climate the automotive sector is operating in the UK and its impact with the company.

"Unite will continue to press the carmaker for assurances over the jobs and skills of our members who have worked tirelessly over the past decade to make the company the global success story it is today."

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Parent company Tata is planning a £2.5 billion cost-saving programme as part of an ambitious turnaround plan.

The charge is being very much led by Land Rover in the US, with 10,617 of the 14,000-plus cars sold in December being Land Rovers.

In December 2018 33 per cent more Land Rovers were sold than in December 2017.

Over the calendar year 92,143 of the 122,626 vehicles sold in the US were Land Rovers representing a 23 per cent rise over 2017.

Almost half of those were premium vehicles like the Range Rover Sport (24,282 units) and Range Rover (19,030 units).

The Range Rover Sport was Land Rover’s biggest seller in the US in 2018.

(Image: Birmingham Mail/Darren Quinton)

As far as the Jaguar brand goes, 3,462­­­ cars were sold in December, a slight increase from 3,414 units in December 2017.

Jaguar continued to make inroads in the SUV market in the US, thanks to the expansion of the ‘Pace’ family - with both the E-Pace and I-Pace joining the range.

Sales of Jaguar SUV models in 2018 totalled 19,624 units, a rise of 3.6 per cent from 2018.

Looking forward the car maker will have high hopes for its all-new Evoque model, which was recently unveiled.

"We are pleased"

Jaguar Land Rover is also planning to return to the US market with the all-new Defender, which will be unveiled towards the end of 2019 and launched in 2020.

Joe Eberhardt, president and CEO, Jaguar Land Rover North America, said: “We are pleased to finish another year with record-setting sales for Jaguar Land Rover in the US.

“Land Rover continues to prove its reign in the luxury SUV market by achieving its fourth consecutive record-setting sales year on the heels of announcing the highly anticipated return of the iconic Defender to the US market.

“This success is truly a testament to the strength of our product lineup and the dedication of our retailer network.”